Key Action Update History

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1. Recommendation: UNDP Jamaica should devote the remainder of the programme cycle to consolidating its current environment and energy project portfolio.
Explanation of Recommendation: Successful experiences in environmental management and energy efficiency need to be developed into ?templates? that assist policy implementation and are replicable on a larger scale. These include IWCAM´s approach to integrated watershed management; JCDT´s support for community involvement in protected area conservation; the application of natural resource valuation tools for environmental impact assessments and payment for environmental service (PES) initiatives; energy audits of public sector facilities; and renewable energy demonstrations, among others.

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

The CO will build on the successful initiatives for the rest of the programme cycle. JCDT is currently a partner under two projects in protected area conservation and will continue to be engaged through this programme cycle.
2. The CO has secured commitment from the Regional Energy Project to support the Ministry of Energy and Mining/Ministry of Health in the implementation of recommendations from the public sector energy audits.
3. The CO is supporting the OPM and NEPA in the PPG to secure financing for renewable energy demonstrations.
4. The CO is developing a full scale energy support project.

Key Actions:

2. Recommendation: Cross-project linkages and synergies should be nurtured to raise cumulative programme impact.
Explanation of Recommendation: Various E&E projects are implicitly connected and linked to broader policy goals. In several cases, project deliverables can provide inputs and enhance the potential for other initiatives: Past experiences in community sustainable livelihoods and environmental monitoring within the John Crow National Park may provide insight to a new GEF project that addresses the operational and financial sustainability of Protected Areas. Capacity assessments and studies on indigenous knowledge under the Biodiversity Add-On project may be of interest to the Sustainable Land Management project, which will contribute to the design of Jamaica?s first national land management plan. Pilot energy audits and improvements in hospitals and schools have demonstrated significant cost savings and ?win-win? outcomes that have implications for policy implementation under the Energy Initiation Plan. UNDP Jamaica needs to ensure that potential linkages and synergies among E&E projects are realized.

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3. Recommendation: There are experiences, outputs and lessons that can contribute to policy design and implementation.
Explanation of Recommendation:The IWCAM approach has been adopted as a model by NEPA and could guide the implementation of sustainable land management and climate change adaptation policies across Jamaica?s 26 watersheds. The experience gained by the Jamaica Conservation Development Trust (JCDT) in promoting agro-forestry, sustainable coffee cultivation and community buy-in to forest conservation within John Crow National Park, offers inputs for sustainably managing Protected Areas on a national scale. Energy audits of schools and hospitals can be up scaled as entry points for implementing energy efficiency policies within the public sector, leveraging support both from government and the donor community. The IWCAM project has validated an integrated watershed management model that will be replicated in other watersheds (including the one encompassing the greater Kingston area). The IWCAM experience offers insight and good practices that could help to promote sustainable land management in parishes and rural communities. Several projects address overarching climate change issues through energy policy, ecosystems management and stakeholder consultations. The assessments and consultations conducted for the Second National Communication on Climate Change project are being used to draft a national Climate Change Resilience plan that would be Jamaica?s first.

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

1. Experiences, Outputs and Lessons Learnt from projects will be shared with all partners, PIOJ and OPM, through project board meetings; cross-invitations to stakeholder meetings; dissemination of reports; facilitation of institutional exchanges, information sharing with policymakers

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4. Recommendation: Selective follow-up support may be needed to maximize the impact, demonstration value and policy effect of E&E initiatives.
Explanation of Recommendation: These actions suggested above do not require full-scale projects; nor are they necessarily expensive. UNDP can make a difference by earmarking ?soft support? to document/ disseminate case studies, facilitate institutional exchanges and mentoring, inform policymakers or parliamentary commissions, and upstream successful pilot experiences. This form of intervention would help UNDP Jamaica capitalize on prior project investments by applying a low cost/high impact approach.
1. The inclusion of energy audits and efficiency improvements for public facilities, as a component of the national energy policy action plan (presently being designed with UNDP support). This could generate millions of dollars in energy savings, lower peak fuel demand and free institutional resources for other improvements.
2. Strengthening government capacities to negotiate public-private partnerships and investments in energy security and efficiency. These could include energy stewardships, net metering, financial credits for home energy improvements and rainwater harvesting and energy stewardships.
3. Facilitating high-level technical advice and peer reviews of energy policy design and implementation. There is a recognized need for technical guidance on climate change adaptation and low carbon development options that could have significant policy effect and improve enabling conditions for project interventions in this area.

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

1. The CO has secured support for energy efficiency improvement for public facilities following on from the energy audit project.
2. The CO has supported the preparation of the National Action Plan for the Energy Policy.
3. Strengthening of government capacities to negotiate public-private partnerships and investments in energy security and efficiency will be done through CO support to the Ministry of Energy and Mining and includes capacity development and the completion of five sub-policies.
4. The CO has committed to supporting stakeholder consultations for the energy sub-policies.

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5. Recommendation: UNDP Jamaica?s strategic position and support for environment and energy should rest on its comparative strengths, reducing vulnerability to operational constraints and other disabling conditions that affect programme development.
Explanation of Recommendation: UNDP Jamaica faces challenges and limitations that restrict opportunities for project development and resource mobilization. Core TRAC resources are modest and funding options for environmental projects are largely limited to GEF. Jamaica is a middle-income country and bilateral development assistance is on the decline; some donors are tending towards Caribbean area initiatives that address the common needs of SIDS more cost-effectively than individual country projects. Various projects are subject to extended contracting delays that weaken implementation and lower delivery. Due to workloads and staffing constraints, there is limited capacity within the Country Office to design project proposals, provide in-depth monitoring or implement knowledge management processes. Many of these challenges are not unique to UNDP Jamaica and affect COs across the Caribbean.
The combination of factors raises the workload and transactional costs needed to build the EE portfolio on a project-by-project basis.

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

1. The CO recruited a dedicated RM specialist, who will help programme units in drafting proposals.
2. The CO collaborates with regional project as part of RM

Key Actions:

6. Recommendation: Recurrent problems that affect project implementation need to be analyzed and alternatives considered.
Explanation of Recommendation: These include extended contracting delays caused by the limited availability of qualified environmental expertise, insufficient project timelines that are exacerbated by recruitment delays, and slow disbursement processes that are attributed to problems with the harmonized cash transfer mechanism. Some of these constraints are systemic and outside the control of Country Office; others reflect externalities that affect UNDP projects across the Caribbean and need to be addressed at a higher organizational level. For example, GEF and UNDP?s Panama Regional Office could consider options such as consultant rosters and referrals; the rotation and cost sharing of specialized expertise among projects addressing common issues(similar to the SURF modality); or ?topping up? budget lines for international expertise when national or Caribbean-based candidates are not available. Unrealistic project timelines can be partially offset by budgeting additional time to compensate slow recruitments and start-up processes; and by including inception phases to expedite implementation and contracting arrangements in advance. As (conservatively) noted in a project report, ??if a project has been estimated as requiring 12 months to complete, allow at least 14-16 months in duration.?

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

1. Full implementation by NEX modality will reduce the administrative burden on the CO and should improve timelines for recruitment and disbursement.

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7. Recommendation: The Strategic Flexible Funding Facility should be continued and expanded in scale.
Explanation of Recommendation: The Strategic Flexible Funding Facility is a valued support modality that allows UNDP to respond quickly to emergent needs, with greater discretionary control over the use of funds. An empowered SFFF can play a key role in developing programme niches and entry points that support policy implementation, as in the case of the Energy Initiation Plan. It could also be used to document/transfer knowledge, fill strategic gaps and catalyze programme synergies with greater flexibility than conventional project approaches. UNDP Jamaica needs to ensure that the SFFF is continued and if possible, capitalized with additional donor support.

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

1. The Flexibility Funding Facility modality is to be continues as agreed with PIOJ.

Key Actions:

8. Recommendation: Adaptation to climate change provides an overarching conceptual framework that can be used to better align UNDP?s support for energy efficiency and security, environmental management, disaster risk reduction and advocacy/public awareness.
Explanation of Recommendation: Projects that support integrated watershed management, sustainable land use, national communications to UNFCCC and renewable energy share a common link (explicitly or implicitly) to climate change adaptation. This offers a substantive entry point for aligning future E&E efforts that is could expand partnership and funding opportunities: The GoJ is presently drafting a national Climate Resilience Action Plan that is expected to begin in 2011. The Plan will likely include initiatives in environmental management, renewable energy, disaster risk reduction, capacity development and public awareness. Several key donors are focusing support for the Caribbean region on climate change adaptation. As UNDP Jamaica approaches the next Country Programme cycle, it should consider focusing future E&E support and building linkages around climate change resilience and energy efficiency outcomes.

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

1. The CO will continue to support the GOJ in climate change dialogue/negotiations and will be staging a UNFCCC COP 15 Debriefing/COPP 16 Preparation Roundtable for senior officials and decision-makers in 2010.
2. The CO has been actively engaged in dialogue on the Pilot Programme for Climate Resiliency (PPCR)
3. Towards energy efficiency outcomes, the CO has already provided support to the Ministry of Energy and Mining for the Preparation of the National Action Plan. The CO has committed support for the preparation and completion of five associated alternative energy sub-policies.

Key Actions:

9. Recommendation: The proposed Community of Practice for climate change adaptation, environment, energy and disaster risk reduction is an appropriate vehicle for implementing several of the recommendations.
Explanation of Recommendation: The Community of Practice (CoP) is a potentially valuable framework for addressing several of these concerns. A Cop could be effective in generating feedback loops and support services in knowledge management and dissemination: technical backstopping, peer reviews of national policies and institutional mentoring, information queries, and accessing consultant expertise. Government partners have emphasized the need for a regional mechanism that brings new perspectives, expertise and resources to Jamaica. This suggests a mechanism that looks beyond Jamaica and addresses EE problems that affect the greater Caribbean region.
A CoP with these characteristics could be based at the University of West Indies (at the UWI Institute for Sustainable Development or the Climate Studies Group) with support and oversight from UNDP Jamaica and a designated steering committee. Specialized regional institutions such as the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC, based in Belize) could also assume leading roles in a CoP. The process would require support from the UNDP Regional Centre in Panama, the RBLAC regional programme, GEF and donor groups that support the eastern Caribbean. A tentative framework (Annex 4) is outlined as a possible input for its design.
The CoP offers opportunities (and reinforces the need) for streamlining administrative procedures and reporting formats for the various initiatives. It is not clear how a CoP would fit into UNDP?s resource mobilization strategy. However, the circulation of information and support services could open new funding and partnership opportunities on a longer-term basis. Likewise, the availability of knowledge products, consultant rosters and short-term technical expertise could alleviate some of the problems resulting from project recruitment delays.

Management Response: [Added: 2010/10/22]

1. The CO will continue to investigate the parameters required to establish the CoP through the identification of a CoP advisor; continued stakeholder engagement; needs assessment; identification of a suitable platform and identification of an implementing partner.